Playing for Keeps

By Joan Lowery Nixon

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Playing for Keeps from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.
 
        Rose Ann can’t believe her good luck. Her grandmother, Glory, needs a last-minute roommate for her bridge-tournament cruise to the Caribbean. But Glory doesn’t really need a companion. She’s eager for Rosie to meet her friend’s grandson, Neil, a brainy guy full of facts about baseball, among other things. Once Rosie is aboard the ship, though, someone else catches her eye—a boy her own age, who introduces himself as Ricky Diago. But after the ship sails, something doesn’t seem quite right. Rosie sees only Ricky’s uncle, Mr. Diago. Even stranger, Neil swears that Mr. Diago is actually a famous Cuban baseball player from the Cincinatti Reds.
        Then, after a day excursion in Paradise Beach, Rosie is approached by another boy who claims he’s Ricky Diago. She’s certain he’s not the person she met at the beginning of the trip. Suddenly Rosie finds herself caught in a high-stakes game of international intrigue with life-or-death consequences. Who is the real Ricky Diago? And how far will Rosie go to help him?
        With her trademark expertise, Joan Lowery Nixon interweaves politics, baseball, and romance in a masterful novel of suspense on the high seas.
 
“[An] engaging mystery.” –Kirkus Reviews
 
“[A] fast-paced combination of suspense and romance.” –Booklist
 
“Satisfactory teen mystery.” –VOYA

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307433633

Joan Lowery Nixon

Joan Lowery Nixon (1927–2003) was a renowned author of children’s literature, best known for series like the Orphan Train Adventures and Casebusters. Born in Los Angeles, she began dictating poems to her mother before she could read. At the University of Southern California, Nixon majored in journalism, but took a job teaching the first grade upon graduating. In 1949, she and her husband moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and in 1964 she published her first novel, The Mystery of Hurricane Castle. Nixon became a fan of mystery fiction when she was a child, and many of her most popular series incorporate elements of sleuthing. She won four Edgar Awards for best young adult mysteries, including prizes for her novels The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore (1979) and The Name of the Game Was Murder (1993). In addition to writing more than 140 young adult novels, Nixon also co-wrote several geology texts with her scientist husband.      

Reviews for Playing for Keeps

[jim53_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Picked this up as part of collecting mysteries that use bridge, but it doesn't. Sixteen-year-old Rose is invited by her grandmother to join her on a cruise on which grandma is playing bridge. While grandma tries to fix Rose up with fellow teen Neil, she also meets Ricky, who is trying to get to the US from Cuba to seek asylum. Ricky is accused of murdering the man who helped him get from Cuba to Haiti. Rose feels she has to get involved and find a way to help Ricky.A lightweight mystery with a decent portrayal of teen angst and conflicting feelings. The writing is competent and the [plot moves along quickly.